


Just a little hush, babe

by impulsive_astrophile



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Cuddling, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, No betas we own our mistakes and cry about them like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29315394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/impulsive_astrophile/pseuds/impulsive_astrophile
Summary: Whenever he has a particularly bad nightmare on a case, Mulder sneaks into Scully’s room and sleeps on the floor next to her bed. They’ve both been pretending they don’t know he does it. But not tonight.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	Just a little hush, babe

She's not sure what wakes her at first. Blearily, Scully cracks her eyes open but sees nothing. She rolls back over, tucking her head further into the comforter. 

Then she hears it - a whimper. _Mulder._

Scully opens her eyes again, peering over the edge of the bed to find exactly what she expects - Mulder curled up on the floor, tucked against the side of her bed under one of his blazers. 

Even in sleep, his face is pinched, and the moonlight filtering through the window highlights the tear tracks on his face. Her heart breaks at the sight; it always does. 

It'd started in the first year of their partnership. For all that the man seemed not to be able to sleep at night, Mulder slept like a rock whenever Scully was around - on planes, in cars, during stakeouts. Eventually, she'd noticed the pattern and tested it; Mulder could sleep soundly for hours as long as she was within a few feet of him, but whenever she'd walk away, he'd wake up after a few minutes - almost as if he could sense her absence. 

On their second case after she'd been returned from her abduction, she found him sleeping on the floor when she got up to go to the bathroom. She'd almost tripped over him. The bags under his eyes had been so dark that she hadn't had the heart to wake him, instead choosing to pull a spare blanket off the foot of the bed and cover him. When she woke again the next morning, he was gone, the blanket folded and placed back where she'd gotten it. 

It happened less and less as time passed after her abduction but ramped right up again when she had cancer. The night she'd woken to find him curled around her palm, weeping and whimpering softly in his sleep even as he knelt beside her bed, her heart had nearly been cleaved in two. She knew then she couldn't let this happen again.

So, faced with this man, curled tight under the scant protection of her mere presence, she slides from the bed and kneels by his side. "Mulder." 

Her palm comes to rest on his cheek, hoping to roust him from the torments his mind knows only too well how to produce. 

He'd once told her his soul was tired. She knows why. 

He flinches at first, shying away from her touch. 

Scully persists, pushing her fingers through his tousled hair. "Mulder, it's me. You're safe." 

Mulder's eyes flicker open. Her name sputters from his mouth like water from a rusty pipe. "Scully?" 

"I'm here, Mulder." She smiles past his confusion as she pulls him into the bed, tucking him against her under the warm embrace of the covers. 

"Scully," he whispers, shattered, and clings to her as the tears come. 

She pulls him closer, reaching up to rest a palm on the nape of his neck, squeezing lightly as she hushes him. "It's okay, baby. I've got you." Featherlight kiss to his hairline. "Sleep. I'll keep watch." 

She can shield him in her embrace and keep the demons away, at least for the night.


End file.
